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4 Ways on How to Remove Flash Content from PDF Files

  Kanishka Vohra
Written By Kanishka Vohra
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh  
Modified On January 6th, 2026
Reading Time 8 Minutes Reading

Embedding Flash content wins viewers’ attention when sharing PDF Files. Whether it is animations or short dynamic videos, Flash or SWF files (Small Web Format) are a highly preferred choice. Unfortunately, Adobe has officially discontinued Flash content, flagging it as unsafe data. It brings up the question of how to remove Flash content from PDF files. Follow this guide to learn the effective techniques for stripping out active or rich media SWF files from PDF. Let’s discover the ways to keep your PDF safe while deleting Flash content.

What You’ll Learn Hide
  1. What are Flash Content in PDF
  2. Why Remove Flash or SWF Files from PDF
  3. How to Remove Flash Content from PDF – 4 Ways
  4. Quick Steps to Remove SWF Files from PDF
  5. Let’s Wrap Up!

What are Flash Content or SWF Files in PDF?

SWF, short for Small Web Format or Flash content, is a type of interactive rich media created or supported by Adobe Flash. In simple terms, Flash content is animations, vector graphics, and video-based animations. It was known as Swiff, but Adobe retired it in 2020. Due to discontinued services, it is now not supported by Adobe and other web-based tools.

Earlier, flash content was highly useful for showcasing animated graphics, especially for gamers or browser-based games. Moreover, the software guides, research paper, educational PDFs, presentations, marketing media, and even training manuals often contain SWF files. Hence, it enhances the overall viewer’s experience and is compatible with Adobe Flash and other web browsers.

In summary, the SWF or Flash content was favored by everyone, but has now been replaced by Flash Player, Adobe Flash, as it shifts to other web development programming languages like JavaScript and CSS.

Why Flash Content or SWF Files Become a Problem?

Flash content, or SWF files, is a type of rich media element that is now inaccessible or retired due to modern technology and security concerns. Many users encounter persistent issues when using SWF files for animation or dynamic media purposes. It together makes flash content obsolete. Below are the other reasons why PDFs do not support SWF files:

  • End of Flash Services: In 2020, Adobe officially discontinued the Flash Player service. In other words, users can’t access the SWF files that include the update and support. Hence, it is now flagged as unauthorized and unsecure.
  • Major Security Issues: Various loopholes existed in SWF or Flash media, which increased the risk of malware or cyber threats to users. Due to security concerns, both organizations and web browsers have ended support for playing Flash content.
  • Incompatible with Web Browsers: The popular web browsers, such as Firefox, Edge, and Chrome, don’t support SWF files today. Additionally, modern PDF Readers or viewers often fail to access or read rich media Flash content.
  • No Mobile Support: Since the formatting of SWF files, it causes issues with mobile devices. In other words, the flash content is not easily accessible on Android or iOS devices. These mobile devices favor HTML5, JavaScript, and other technologies for interactive media. This, unfortunately, replaced flash content.

In simple words, Flash or SWF files have various bugs, security issues, and cross-platform compatibility issues. These together obsolete the services and replaced them with JavaScript, HTML5, and more.

After discovering the problems, you may want to remove flash content from PDF to make your document future-ready and eliminate security concerns. So, let’s find out the methods below.

How to Permanently Remove Flash Content from PDF File in Seconds?

  1. To remove flash from PDF, install SysTools PDF Media Remover on PC.
  2. Choose any: Add Files or Folders to browse files > Next.
  3. Pick Remove Rich Media under Select Media Object.
  4. Tab “Remove” radio icon of “Select Media Action“.
  5. Go to Change to find the location of the resultant file.
  6. Finally, use “Export” to get a future-ready PDF document.

How to Remove SWF Files from PDF – 4 Best Methods

If you’re wondering how to remove outdated flash content from PDF files, here’s the step-by-step guide. In the following section, we will share the 4 professional tools to permanently delete SWF media from PDF files. Take a look below:

  • Free Online Websites
  • Try the MS Print to PDF Option
  • Adobe Acrobat Pro Tool
  • SysTool Recommended Utility- Permanent Deletion

So, let’s walk through these methods.

How to Remove Embedded Flash Content from PDF Online – Try Free PDF Tools

For non-technical users, online free PDF tools are among the most favored or first-choice. Without installation or sign-ups, the tools let you remove the embedded Flash or SWF files from PDFs. Moreover, these web-based solutions are capable of erasing the Flash media object without data loss.

This way, you can effortlessly reduce PDF size, making it a manageable or easy-to-share document. Follow the quick steps to remove outdated SWF files from PDFs using free online tools:

  1. Open the PDF on free online websites.
  2. Use the Eraser or Redact tool and move it to Flash content.
  3. Finally, save the PDF that gets white-outs of the SWF files.

Pros of Online Solutions:

  • No need to run or install the software.
  • Useful for both technical and non-technical users.
  • Offers a navigational dashboard along with quick access to all

Cons of Free Tools:

  • It is not ideal method to remove PDF Flash content.
  • Online tools can’t fully eliminate the SWF files from PDFs.
  • The risk of privacy and data security is high, so prefer offline tools.

How to Remove Flash Content from PDF Using Print to PDF (Free)

If you’re wondering how to remove SWF files from PDF, try Microsoft Print to PDF. It is a free and simple way to remove Flash content without installing offline or third-party software. The method converts the PDF into a static format, deleting all the interactive elements. Now, follow the steps to remove SWF media from PDF using MS Print to PDF:

  1. View the PDF with the PDF Reader in a browser.
  2. Either press Print or the Ctrl + P feature.
  3. Choose Microsoft Print to PDF and tab Print.
  4. Save the new PDF on your PC.

Pros:

  • The method is free and useful for all.
  • Convert the interactive or rich media into a flattened PDF.
  • No longer accessible Flash content in PDFs.

Cons:

  • It is not ideal to remove PDF Flash content.
  • The method does not preserve PDF elements during the process.

How to Strip Out SWF Files from PDF Document – Try Adobe Acrobat Pro

To access flash-free PDF files, Adobe Acrobat Pro software is the right tool. Since Adobe officially won’t provide support for SWF files. Hence, removing flash content becomes necessary to secure the document for future use. Also, deleting the SWF multimedia automatically decreases the file size.

Compared to the above methods, this is an official software solution that permanently removes all Flash content from PDF files. Without data loss, it enables you to create a future-ready and secure document. Here are the effective steps to remove flash content from PDF using Acrobat Pro:

  1. Firstly, install the Adobe Acrobat utility on the machine.
  2. Look for Tools and then the tab Redact feature.
  3. Now, select the “Find Text & Redact” option > tab Remove Object.
  4. Finally, download the SWF-free PDF document instantly.

Pros:

  • Effortlessly remove the embedded Flash content.
  • Offers complete or selective deletion of SWF files.
  • Deals with protected PDF files when removing flash content.

Cons:

  • The software’s subscription cost is high.
  • Not recommended for batch processing.

How to Remove Flash Content from PDF Using SysTools Pro Tool (Official)

To permanently remove SWF content from PDF, download SysTools PDF Pro software. The software is designed for both Windows and macOS versions. This independent, simple, and cost-saving utility effortlessly removes all rich media, including SWF or Flash content.

The tool can delete other rich media elements, such as static background images, audio clips, animated videos, attached files, and more. Moreover, it allows you to remove attachments from PDF document. In this way, you can strip out all the outdated SWF content, like GIFs and animated videos.

Most importantly, it has two features: remove or save & remove. The “remove” option permanently deletes it, whereas other features “remove and save” the SWF file directly on your operating system.

Moreover, it preserves the PDF elements during the process. So, let’s move to learn the stepwise guide.

Steps to Remove Outdated Flash Content from PDF

  1. Start by installing the SysTools PDF Pro utility.
    install software
  2. “Add Files or Folders” to browse or upload PDFs > Next.
    add files or folders to upload pdf
  3. In the Select Media section > tab Remove Rich Media.
    click remove rich media
  4. To remove SWF files > tab Remove under Media Action.
    tab remove to remove flash content
  5. “Change” to browse or save the resultant PDF.
    change to set location
  6. Finally, use the Export button to download a flash-free PDF file.

Pro Tip: To extract SWF from PDF, try SysTools PDF Extractor. Using this advanced software, you can extract unwanted rich media content from PDF and save it to your system. Moreover, it helps users to access PDF without Flash content.

Concluding Words

In the above guide, we have listed 4 ways to remove flash content from PDF files. Moreover, you can choose any method for removing the interactive SWF files from PDFs. Among all the techniques, SysTools mentioned tools are fit for all; they are cost-effective and simple software for Windows or macOS users. Using the software, you can easily access the Flash and risk-free PDF document instantly.